


Nanairo no Compass Reimagined

by wildinjaelyn



Category: Uta no Prince-sama
Genre: Concerts, Gay Panic, High School, M/M, Music, Oneshot, Romantic Fluff, Saotome JC AU, Short Story, Songfic, Teenage Drama, haruka is the best wingman, nanairo no compass, ototoki, otoya is the gayest straight man ever, tokiya is a closet gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:34:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27116860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildinjaelyn/pseuds/wildinjaelyn
Summary: Tokiya gets to sing a song that is composed for him, and he starts having a Gay Panic in the middle of the performance. Please help him.
Relationships: Ichinose Tokiya/Ittoki Otoya
Kudos: 7





	Nanairo no Compass Reimagined

"But you had fun, right?"

"Yeah, dickhead, when was the last time you had  _ real _ fun?"

Aside from Syo's blatant jab at him, Tokiya found himself unbelievably stumped at Otoya's question. He'd always believed that everyone had a different concept of 'fun', and his — well, it 'didn't really vibe' with the masses, as his friends would say, making redundant the original meaning of the word 'vibe'. 

Perhaps it did not matter, anyway — in that moment, under the lights, an approximately eight hundred pair of eyes stared at him, waiting,  _ you were with us at every rehearsal, _ Haruka had said, and he looked at her bright and clear eyes, though it might have just been a reflection of —

"GET THAT BREAD!!!!" screamed Tomo from backstage, before getting hauled back further by the PA crew. 

Tokiya managed to catch a breath.

Haruka whispered, "It's going to be okay."

"ARE. YOU. READYYYYYY!" whooped Otoya, delivering his signature guitar riff, (obviously followed by Syo's screaming), and the audience began cheering along, before fizzling out into an anticipating silence. 

To Tokiya’s surprise, his redheaded friend delivered the first line in acapella, which was  _ not _ part of the rehearsals at all ---

_ Ah... reaching out to only you, _

_ The sound of this wind... Feeling heart... _

The rest of the instruments and beats kicked in, and before Tokiya had time to quickly refresh himself on which parts of the song he was supposed to replace, Otoya’s lines were getting into his head — when had he heard that before?

_ Blue… The sparkling blue drops trailing down a cheek _

_ Rise… Did you know? About the light to tomorrow _

As per normal, Haruka was supposed to sing the first half. Tokiya was only glad he didn’t have to subject himself to such cheesy and silly lyrics. 

She continued, looking at him,

_ Truth… You probably still don’t know yourself well, huh? _

_ Those tears will surely become your guiding rainbow! _

He had to admit, Masato’s competency on the piano had indeed brought out the emotional quality, yet the entire song still felt very much like a cheap chick flick grasping at his emotions.

_ If your long trail goes cold, _

Haruka smiled, 

_ Ah… I’ll warm it with a song! _

That’s when he remembered —

_ All of your prayers may not become stars, _

Otoya composed the instrumentals for this.

_ But if you believe in your dreams, _

And he must have somehow recovered the shredded pieces.

_ They will be thousands of jewels that shine bright in the night sky! _

Haruka nodded, and now it was up to Tokiya for the next few parts.

The song brought him to places he did not want to remember. It was just after they had won the  _ Starry Sky  _ songwriting competition; Otoya had wanted to seize the opportunity to sign on to a record label. Their performance in the finals received more likes and views than Tokiya had ever seen in his life, and, to be completely honest, it seemed a little terrifying for him.

_ Think… Do you remember? The sunset on the way home _

_ Yes… We rejoiced! The map of the future spreads wide! _

But Tokiya had other priorities. He wasn’t just going to abandon his meticulously-planned ten-year education masterplan.

_ Dream… Since when? My chest has been tightening _

_ Shining on my heart, the charm of the adults’ tales _

Dreams. He abandoned that term long ago. If it was called a dream, it would, technically, never come true. And so he changed it to words like ‘aspirations’ and ‘ambitions’.

Had he, perhaps, lost something in the process? 

It was only now that he had fully comprehended the words he had just sung. That he had breathed life into.

Before the audience could tell that Tokiya had missed the next line completely, Otoya swooped in to save the day —

_ Even the things you can’t do on your own, _

_ Ah… I want to surpass them with you! _

He turned his head back, only seeing Otoya’s starlit eyes smiling back at him as he sang,

_ If it would become your smile, I would tell lies even to God! _

_ So I’d like to call this “love” _

_ I want to come with you! To this “nameless story,” fly to the sky! _

He completed it. Those lyrics he abandoned, Otoya had tried to complete it, even though he ‘sucked at writing poems’. 

Admittedly, he was not very surprised; it was very Otoya of him to do. Though it was perhaps too late. He had no intention of going back.

He only felt his tears once it had collected at the bottom of his chin.

_ Don’t cry anymore, you’re fine as you are! _

_ I want you to let me protect you! _

And he sang, with Otoya, probably for the last time,

_ If there’s a dream we both believe in, _

_ Far more incredibly beautiful than the sunlight on that day, _

_ Let it descend in seven colors… on the world. _

**********

“Hey, I think you should go talk to Otoya.”

Tokiya looked up, in slight awe that she had managed to find him sitting alone at the track grandstand. Haruka sat beside him gently.

“You’re right. I should,” Tokiya remembered that he had quickly evacuated himself from the stage after their performance ended. “I do owe him an apology.”

Ambient noises of performers rushing to take celebratory pictures filled the space between them.

“He spent a lot of nights completing it, you know? Rhyming, structure, all that... I never knew words were so... confusing. ”

_ It is.  _ And for someone who was described to be masterful at lyrics, it was dreadfully ironic that he could not convey the simplest of words. Hah.

“Haruka, thank you. You’re a good friend.”

“Oh... haha,” Haruka tucked a bit of hair behind her ear, smiling.

The both of them stood up, and made their way back to the rest of the group.


End file.
